Mr. Seward to Mr. Van Limburg. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, September 30, 1862. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 27th instant, with the accompanying papers, relative to a supposed improper interference by the court of general sessions at New York, in a dispute between the captain of the Netherland vessel the Jan Van Galen and her carpenter, named Herman Nepping. You allege that the court referred to had no jurisdiction in the matter, and you request this government to reprimand that tribunal, and to issue orders to courts and judges of the United States to abstain from interfering in similar disputes. You also request reparation to the captain of the Jan Van Galen for the damage which he has sustained. In reply, I have the honor to inform you that this department has no authority to reprimand or to issue orders to any judicial tribunal in this country, especially to a State court. According to the system of government prevalent here, the courts of justice are independent of the Executive. Any party summoned before them has the privilege of being represented by counsel, and, in most cases, of appealing from any decision supposed to be unjust. Whether the court of general sessions at New York had jurisdiction of the case referred to, was a question for that court itself to decide in the first instance, and if the captain or the consul general of your government feels aggrieved by a decision in the affirmative, there certainly is a right of appeal to other courts, which would review that judgment and bring it into conformity with the laws and treaties of the United States. This government has no other constitutional means of effecting such results. I am not aware of any treaty stipulation between the United States and the Netherlands which gives to the consuls of the latter unqualified jurisdiction over disputes between masters of vessels and their crews. The phrase to which you refer in the exequatur of the consul of the Netherlands cannot, in the opinion of this department, be construed as conferring so important a power. This can only result from a treaty, which the President of the United States alone cannot conclude without the advice and consent of the Senate. I have the honor to be, sir, your very obedient servant, Mr. ROEST VAN LIMBURG, S., &c., &c. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. Mr. Seward to Mr. Van Limburg. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, September 30, 1862. SIR: The undersigned, Secretary of State of the United States, has had the honor to receive the note of Mr. Van Limburg, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of his Majesty the King of the Netherlands, objecting to a draft of the Netherlands consul at Philadelphia for the military service of the United States. In reply, the undersigned has the honor to acquaint Mr. Van Limburg that as it is understood that the person referred to has not yet been drafted, this department prefers in this, as it has in other cases, to postpone any consideration of the question of the liability to draft, which it may be proper for the executive government to entertain, until the draft apprehended shall have actually been effected. The undersigned avails himself of this occasion to offer to Mr. Van Limburg a renewed assurance of his very high consideration. M. ROEST VAN LIMBURG. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. Mr. Van Limburg to Mr. Seward. [Translation] NEW YORK, October 9, 1862. SIR: I have had the honor to receive your two notes, dated the 30th of last month, one of which related to the enrolment of the consul of the Netherlands at Philadelphia for drafting, and the other was in regard to the interference of a judicial authority of New York in a question of internal order in regard to a Netherlandish vessel. As heretofore, in the absence of formal stipulations, a reciprocity of proceed ings which were sincerely benevolent had presided over the treatment of consular agents and affairs in the two countries, which mutually took pleasure in giving proofs to each other of consideration and obligingness, I believed myself sufficiently authorized, even without special instructions, to ask, in the two cases referred to, the treatment of consuls of other nations which have concluded conventions with the United States in this regard. I thought myself so much the more authorized to do so, as the terms of the exequaturs granted by the President to our consuls seemed to guarantee expressly a privileged treatment. Supposing that the United States would prefer that their consuls, even when not Americans, should be exempt in the Netherlands from military service, and having read an official letter of Attorney General Cushing to Secretary of State Marcy, cited by Wheaton, and communicated to the various consuls of the United States, that consuls "are privileged from political or military service," I did not think that the government of the United States would wish to reserve to itself the power of judging whether it suited or not to subject a consul of the Netherlands, even though not a Netherlander, to military service. Believing that the United States would prefer that questions of internal order in regard to their merchant vessels should be, in foreign ports, subordinated to the judgment of American consuls, I flattered myself that a reciprocal exemp tion from the interference of the American judicial authority would be accepted as a general rule, and particularly in regard to Netherlandish vessels. You have done me the honor to inform me, sir, that our captains or consuls who think themselves aggrieved by the interference of a judicial authority of a State have the power to resort to an appeal-that is to say, to a long and costly proceeding which would little serve towards a clear exemption of American captains from the judicial intervention of the Netherlandish authorities in questions of internal order, like that which I have now the honor of discussing with you. I shall, therefore, sir, hasten to communicate to the government of the King my notes and your replies concerning the two questions raised, and I have the honor, sir, to renew to you the assurances of my high consideration. ROEST VAN LIMBURG Hon. Mr. SEward, Secretary of State of the United States of America, &c., &c., &c. Mr. Van Limburg to Mr. Seward. [Translation] NEW YORK, October 29, 1862. SIR: I take the liberty of communicating to you herewith a letter from the consul of the Netherlands at Philadelphia, who demonstrates therein how aggravating to him is the uncertainty in which the American government leaves him, by not expressing its opinion in advance in regard to the obligation, or mere obligation, which it wishes or will wish to impose on foreign consuls (citizens of the United States) of sharing in the approaching enrolment for the military service of the United States. The consul, in particular, says that, in five days after being "drafted," he would have to go to the camp, which would give him but little chance to obtain a decision from the government of the United States, of making his necessary arrangements, and of providing himself, casu quo, with a substitute. Abstaining from any reflection in this respect, I have the honor, sir, to reiterate to you the assurances of my consideration. Hon. Mr. SEWARD, ROEST VAN LIMBURG. Secretary of State of the United States of America. Mr. Zeigler to Mr. Van Limburg. CONSULATE Of The Netherlands, SIR: On the 27th ultimo I addressed the consul general, Mr. Burlage, on the subject of my enrolment for military draft by the United States authorities, and copy of which letter I beg to enclose. Mr. Burlage, on the 3d instant, forwarded me copy of a communication addressed to your excellency by Mr. Seward, Secretary of State at Washington, in which the honorable Secretary, as you are aware, stated he preferred postponing any consideration of the question of the liability of being drafted which it may be proper for the United States government to entertain, &c. I now beg to call your excellency's attention to the fact that the authorities here will draft tomorrow. All arrangements for that purpose have been made, and as only five days are allowed for one to report himself for camp in case he is drafted, it is to be regretted the honorable Secretary of State does not decide the question at once, so that I may know what my position is or will be. I hold an exequatur from the President of the United States, granting me privileges granted to consuls of the most favored nations on earth. Nothing therein is said whether citizen or no citizen. I therefore do not see that the decision of the draft commissioner accords to the tenor of that document, although I am a citizen of the United States. It seems to me, my dear sir, that the question ought to be settled at once; then I would know what to do. In case of an unfavorable decision a substitute could be obtained, if in time, but if not in time, a difficulty possibly to obtain one. As for obtaining a substitute in advance of a decision, does not seem proper, as it is not my person I must take into consideration, but the office I hold and position I represent. It would not be amiss, perhaps, to say to me, I was informed by the Prussian consul here he had intimation from his minister the foreign consuls who were citizens of the United States would, out of national courtesy, be exempt, and he, the minister, (Baron Von Gerolt,) was requested to hand into the State Department a list of those consuls under his jurisdiction who had become citizens of the United States. I remain, dear sir, very respectfully your His Excellency Mr. ROEST VAN Limburg, obedient servant, GEO. K. ZEIGLER. Envoy Extraordinary, Minister Plenipotentiary of P. S.-I just learned the governor of the State has postponed the draft for one week longer. No. 54.] BELGIUM. Mr. Seward to Mr. Sanford. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, March 17, 1862. SIR: Your despatch of February 27 (No. 53) has been received. You will be able to congratulate the Duke of Brabant, when he returns from Seville, upon the restoration of the public security in this country to an extent so great that we have been able to dispense with the necessity for requiring passports of foreigners visiting the United States. I regret to hear that his health has been so much impaired as to be a cause of solicitude to himself, his friends, and his country. A general conviction prevails that the insurrection which has so deeply disturbed the peace of our country, and so singularly affected the sentiments of Europe, is approaching its end, without justifying in any degree the fears of the friends or the hopes of the enemies of the United States, and also without yielding compensation, in any way, for the evils it has inflicted at home and abroad. SIR: Your despatch of April 17 (No. 61) has been received. We have been constantly and earnestly desirous to relax the rigor of our blockade, and thus relieve the suffering which has resulted from our unhappy civil war in Europe, as far as that object could be effected in that way. But this was bazardous for military reasons, so long as the principal southern ports were held and occupied by the insurgents under our siege. The maritime powers, by treating the insurgents as a lawful belligerent, obliged us to maintain war against them not only on land but at sea, in every part of the world. The capture of New Orleans, of Beaufort, of Newbern, of Fernandina, and of Port Royal, and the partial capture of Savannah, have changed our position in this respect, so that we seem to have a fair expectation of clearing the ocean of rebel vessels and of protecting ourselves against contraband commerce. Measures are therefore being taken to open New Orleans and one or more other ports without delay. If it shall fall in your way to urge the return of the maritime powers to the position they held in relation to us before the insurrection broke out, as a demonstration of reciprocal good will towards the United States, you will do a great service to the country and Europe by performing that duty. There can be |